Awakening the Zodiac (2017) Dir. Jonathan Wright A down on their luck couple, the husband a gardener who hates his job, the wife a sporadic hairdresser who doesn't get enough work, have an argument about the husband's newest scheme to get rich quick: invest in storage lockers that are being sold off because their owners no longer make payments on them. After the husband buys one such locker together with a local pawn shop owner, they find only a small quantity of stuff in there worth some decent money. They do find something else of some interest: a box with some film canisters. When they watch the films, they appear to be videos of two of the Zodiac killer's murders. Assuming that the movies are authentic and indeed belong to the real-life Zodiac killer, the pawn shop owner and the husband devise a new get-rich-quick scheme: solving the Zodiac killer case and thus collecting the reward money that is still being offered for any evidence that might lead to his identity. To that end, they hope to track down the original owner of the storage locker that they bought. But once they start their search proper, against the wife's wishes, they kick a hornets nest of epic proportions. I don't know why this movie ended up being such an uncomfortable watch. There is the fact that this is a horror-thriller based upon real-life murders and attempted murders, for which the relatives of the deceased as well as the surviving victims are mostly still around today. It's not that this is the most exploitative movie I have ever seen (they could have certainly made it much worse), but it's an uncomfortable reality that remained in the back of my head throughout the viewing. I also can't give a good explanation as to why it bothered me with this film, but not with David Fincher's "Zodiac" (one of my favorite films and certainly one of the ten best films of the 21st century for my money). Perhaps it is because Fincher tackles the subject with more regard and devoid of cheap thrills (the famous basement scene not withstanding). As for the merits of this film as a horror-thriller, it's rather paint-by-the-numbers ("Apt Student" and more recently "The Barber" share thematic traits but do a better job overall). The third act is also incredibly silly, but it would have been rather difficult to write a satisfying ending to this film. I do have a weakness for Leslie Bibb and I kind of wish she got some better films and projects (her boyfriend is also one of my favorite contemporary actors).
Blindfold (1965) Dir. Philip Dunne A successful NYC psychiatrist who has a reputation for being a playboy who ditches women shortly after getting engaged to them is approached by an NSA agent. The agent has has a special assignment for the doctor: a former patient of his is under NSA protection because he is experiencing a psychotic break that is causing serious delusions. This is deemed a matter of national security because the man is also a scientist whose work is of interest to foreign powers, including enemies of the U.S., thus there is a chance that foreign operatives will approach him and use his frail mental state of mind to get secret information out of him. The doctor agrees to treat his former patient, which happens at a secret location to which the doctor is flown several nights a week, wearing a blindfold from the moment he leaves the airplane, thus making it impossible to discern where exactly the safe house is. A mere days after taking on the assignment, he is approached by several individuals who all appear to have their own agenda: a beautiful Italian-American woman who initially only seems to want to get his attention and affection but might be after more than that and a CIA agent whose version of what is going on at the safe house is very different to what the NSA agent told the doctor. An action comedy with some screwball-ish traits. I think the right adjective for a movie like this is "charming". Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale make a fine on-screen pair and Jack Warden is fun and occasionally funny as the NSA agent.
Ils (2006) Dir. David Moreau and Xavier Palud A young French couple, him an aspiring author, her a high school French teacher, share a simple, somewhat isolated life in their spacious old home in the woods, some distance outside of Bucharest. One night, they are awakened by strange sounds coming from all around their home. These sounds take a more sinister turn when they realize they are dealing with home invaders who are intent on harming them. A very decent French home invasion horror-thriller. Somewhat reminiscent of "The Strangers", which came two years later, but this is better. Most of the scares are constructed around creating a scary atmosphere. Strange sounds and a flash of motion are scarier than anything you actually show (which is once again proven by the fact that the movie deflates a little bit once they do show the bad guys in the third act). This is also helped by the grainy cinematography (which is even referenced in the poster above). I like the two leads, especially Olivia Bonamy, a French actress I wasn't really aware of prior to this movie.
ChickLit (2016) Dir. Tony Britten Threatened with the closing of their local pub due to the owner needing 300000 pounds to avoid having to sell it off to a property developer who plans to tear it down, four men come up with an unusual idea to make the money: they will work together to write a "Fifty Shades" type erotic novel to cash in on the hype, on the assumption that even a modest hit would be enough to earn them the funds to save their beloved pub. Approaching things from their own personal backgrounds (reporter, teacher, bookstore owner and pub owner respectively), they manage to cobble together a mostly coherent novel. The reporter takes the manuscript to a literary agent, who agrees to negotiate on their behalf. To their surprise, their plan appears to be working when the agent calls to inform them that they have secured a deal with a publisher. The catch: the publisher wants to make the deal directly with the female author that the reporter claimed to be representing. To solve this problem, the reporter hires his out-of-work sister in a law, a struggling actress, to pretend to be the author of the book. This idea backfires when the book turns out to be a runaway success, so much so that the cry for follow-up books is inevitable, forcing them to extend the charade far longer than they originally planned to do. A very British comedy with a rather silly premise that nevertheless starts out decently enough, but then completely fizzles out in the second and third act. One of John Hurt's last movies, though not one that allows him to shine. I did like Dakota Blue Richards' performance, even though her character is all over the place from a writing point of view.
Tonight She Comes (2016) Dir. Matt Stuertz Two vacationing young women on their way to meet up with their friend and a part-time mailman and his dopey buddy all end up at a secluded house in the woods, where they interrupt a family's satanic ritual to revive a family member. The end result is carnage. A weird little horror film that doesn't quite work. The excess gore and nudity don't hide the fact that this is a rather unoriginal and unremarkable piece. There are scenes which suggest they were aiming for "Evil Dead II" style humor, but they lack any cast member with even one iota of Bruce Campbell's hammy charm and talent for hilarious slapstick to make it work.
War for the Planet of the Apes Lame. Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame, lame. I am almost hardwired to love Planet of the Apes. I was reading the book, maybe it was 5th grade, when I saw in the TV listings that the Charlton Heston movie was due to show. I spent two days doing nothing but reading so I could finish before seeing the movie. Loved the book, liked the movie, and I was all in on the original series of Apes movies. Plus, I was living in England in the mid-70s and there was a very great Apes tv show. I even liked the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes, and well, I loved Rise and was fine with Dawn... Caesar is one of the great movie characters of this decade. And this movie left him out to dry. Woody Harrellson is supposed to be the antagonist in this movie, and yet he is unmenacing. There is no showdown between man and ape, just a very lame man vs man confrontation that relies on the deus ********ingest ex machina I've seen in years to be resolved. There's no character development in anyone. I have no idea why anyone would think this is a decent movie. And again, I say this as someone who's loved every iteration of Apes thus far. Save your money.
Totally disagree! I thought it was great. For one thing, I found Woody Harrelson's character to be very menacing. And what you didn't like about the final confrontation was one of the movie's strengths, in my view. So, clearly one's mileage may very, but for anyone reading I say, if you liked the first two movies in this series than I strongly recommend the third. I thought it was better than the middle film, in large part because War doesn't feel the need to include a group of sympathetic human characters to act as audience surrogate.
^ It's fascinating how different people can see the same movie and have such radically opposed reactions. https://www.wsj.com/articles/war-fo...lving-deep-feelings-and-high-drama-1499966577 you have to subscribe to read the entire Joe Morgenstern review, but you can get a feel for what he is going to say... Rotten Tomatoes Top Critics https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/war_for_the_planet_of_the_apes/reviews/?type=top_critics
Hey, we can see the same president and have radically different opinions. Movies are going to be the same. Though despite what fischerw said, this movie really sucked.
No, that would be Dakota Blue Richards. Caroline Catz plays the lawyer wife to the reporter character. It's her younger sister who is the fake author stand-in/out-of-work actress.
No Stranger Than Love (2015) Dir. Nick Wernham A young high school arts teacher in a small town is the object of the infatuation of many men in the small community: other teachers, the principal, a student, her garbagemen, the local drunk, ... Her love life itself is frustrating, though she briefly believes to have found real love with the married high school football coach. On the night when they are about to sleep together for the first time, a hole opens up in her living room floor which swallows up her adulterous football coach lover before he can truly cheat on his wife. Together with the arrival of the strange phenomenon in her living room comes a weird out-of-towner who is also looking for the football coach for some reason. A quirky comedy that is so-and-so in its writing but is elevated by the talent and charm of the cast, especially Alison Brie in the lead role and Colin Hanks in an important supporting role. This mostly made me glad that "Glow" has finally given Alison Brie the proper vehicle to showcase her genuine talent.
Colossal (2016) Dir. Nacho Vigalondo An alcoholic unemployed journalist is forced to move back to her home town from NYC after her boyfriend kicks her out. He can no longer cope with her increasingly worse drinking habit upon her returning home early one morning from one too many benders. Shortly after moving back into her parents' old place, she meets a childhood acquaintance who offers her a job at his bar. Concurrently with this, Seoul, South Korea is plagued by the sudden arrival of a Kaiju like creature that wreaks havoc across the city at night. After a while, the woman starts figuring out that she is somehow controlling the Kaiju. Very much enjoyed this. Anne Hathaway is delightful in the lead role. This is a quirky examination of how a person's life can be totally disrupted and destroyed by a drinking habit. The most interesting thing about the screenplay is the only real monster in it though: the manipulative, gas-lighting, sociopathic ********boy played with great gusto by Jason Sudeikis. This is both a send-up and a deconstruction of more sympathetic versions of this character he has played in the past and thus it makes the heel turn all the more shocking. This is basically the dramedy version of Sergio Leone casting Henry Fonda as the black hat in "Once Upon a Time in the West".
Technically, this is Next Movie watched, but the Mrs and I are taking a break from China Beach tonight to honor George Romero. Pressburger and Powell's The Tales of Hoffmann (1951). His favorite movie.
Dream House (2011) Dir. Jim Sheridan A family moves into their dream home in suburbia after the father finally quits his demanding job in publishing. After they have lived there for a while, they notice that some of the neighbors treat them and their house somewhat oddly. Slowly the father starts to piece together that the reason for this is the fact that their home has a rather dark history. This is a horror thriller with a terrific cast (the three leads as well as the likes of Elias Koteas, Marton Czokas and Sarah Gadon in supporting roles) and the first half an hour promised a decent genre exercise, but somewhere just before the halfway point, we get a plot twist that is the harbinger of things to come and the remainder of the movie is a series of increasingly less believable plot contrivances. A shame, because this is a great cast by genre standards.
Shimmer Lake (2017) Dir. Oren Uziel In the aftermath of a botched bank robbery, we follow an interlocked narrative that includes a small town Sheriff, a wronged woman, an overeager deputy, a dumb former meth cooker, a corrupt and disgraced D.A., a judge with a secret and a pair of bumbling F.B.I. agents. A Netflix original that wants to aspire to a Coen-like dark crime story (dark humor included), following a reversed narrative in the "Memento" mold. Not bad, a nice cast as well, but falls well short of the quality of the movies it is trying to emulate. The twist ending isn't much of one for anyone who pays a little attention.
The Big Sick This is as delightful as everyone says. It's been a long time since a movie has made me laugh so much while also bringing me close to tears several times. Kumail Nanjiani plays himself in this auto-biographical movie about a Pakistani-American man in Chicago trying to make a living as a stand-up. His conservative family wants him to become a lawyer and enter an arranged marriage. Meanwhile, Kumail falls for a white woman hard. A serious medical condition befalls her and Kumail is suddenly dealing with her out-of-town parents, played wonderfully by Ray Romano and Holly Hunter. (All of this is based on the true story of Kumail Nanjiani's relationship with his wife, Emily Gordon, who is played in the film by Zoe Kazan) See it. The plot is remarkably comparable in some ways to Sleepwalk with Me, which was also an autobiographical movie about a struggling stand up comedian (played by himself) dealing with a medical condition. While I'd describe that movie as "nice," The Big Sick is so good I really think it will deserve Academy Award recognition. Best Original Screenplay for sure, with a leading man Oscar nod for Nanjiani and supporting noms for both Romano and Hunter. Holly Hunter is truly gifted in her ability to steal a movie. Does anyone remember Danny Boyle's A Life Less Ordinary?
Dunkirk I loved it. There are two principal criticisms I've been seeing of the movie: 1) Not enough character development. This just did not bother me in the least. The performances are such that the soldiers you see act in believable, human ways. I don't need dialogue about their backstories or their sweethearts back in Jolly Ole England to make me care about their fates. They are people in distress - that was plenty to keep my rapt attention and for me to feel plenty of emotion. Their characters are developed by watching their actions. 2) The unusual use of time in the film. There are three principal arenas of action-- soldiers on the beach, civilians in a boat, and RAF pilots in the air. These arenas take place over the course of one week, one day, and one hour, respectively. The movie tells you this at the outset. I had absolutely no trouble keeping it straight. There are plenty of visual and audio clues to keep you on track. I thought the movie was absolutely beautiful to look at and it was some of the best sound mixing I've ever seen. This is definitely my favorite Christopher Nolan movie. I'm not really one of his fanboys, though. I liked The Dark Knight and Memento; I thought The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, and Interstellar were tedious and overstuffed. Dunkirk improves upon all those movies by stripping dialogue down to the minimum and keeping the runtime a tight 100-minutes. Even at the end of the film, when things threaten to slip into saccharine patriotic territory, I was still completely on board and the emotional beats gave me a lump in the throat.
oh, thank you! haven't seen Inrterstellar, but i couldn't abide Inception. as soon as the Juno character (Ellen Page is indelibly Juno ) finds out what is really happening, i don't understand her motivation to stick around, unless she's afraid they'd kill her. The End. The Dark Knight Rises is a bloated attempt to cash in on the success of the other films. Ick. I didn't mind Anne Hathaway's costume, though.
That could pretty much have been my write-up, word for word. Spot on! You're forgiven for getting it so wrong with the Apes film. LOL
One other note about Dunkirk - the score by Hans Zimmer is excellent for building the tension, but I think his best choice of all was to use the "Nimrod" movement from Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations in the film's climax. A beautiful composition by Britain's most famous composer to pay tribute to one of Britain's most important moments. I'm a cynical Marxist a-hole but this had me in tears.
Forrest Gump I have to say, this movie has aged well, especially now that we are free of the whole life-is-a-box-of-chocolates bromide crap. This is a funny, sweet, sensitive movie that adds some great CGI magic to place Gump at all those various historical intersections.... I remember reading a couple of years ago that this movie has become a cause celebre for conservatives, since Gump trods down a narrow, simple life where blacks know their places and Jenny lives a life of drugs and debauchery and dies of AIDS. How appropriate. Conservatives love a movie about a simpleton and he's their hero. Like I said, the movie has aged well....
Rogue One I saw this movie exactly how I wanted to see it: free on Netflix. If you're a Star Wars fanboy, this movie, set immediately before the opening of Star Wars: The Only One that Matters, it offers lots of bons mots: we learn how the rebels knew of the weakness in the Death Star and how it was Princess Leia came to be carrying the plans. We also learn why Star Wars: TOOTM has been renamed "A New Hope" and we get a cameo from C3PO and R2-D2. And thanks to the wonder of CGI we get an awesome performance from the spirit of Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. Unfortunately, the success of Tarkin in the film led the director to try and replicate the same effect with Princess Leia. This effect did not work out so well and I'm guessing the pasty face of Leia had to have contributed to Carrie Fisher's early demise... As for the whole online contretemps over there being a female hero in the Star Wars universe, I can see where the fanboy anger comes from. To a point. It's not that Jyn is a woman, it's that she's devoid of charisma. She's an unappealing hero and had Cassiam been the focal point, well, he would have come off as poorly. A better hero would have been K2SO. He was hilarious.
We went to the theater for the first time in a year and a half to see "Dunkirk" yesterday. It reminded me a bit of "The Longest Day" in following multiple narratives of the same battle/event, though of course the overlapping nature of the perspectives in the new films is unique. I didn't mind the lack of character development and could actually have done with less, particularly in regards to the young man who jumps on Mark Rylance's boat (I found his story clunky). I did find it occasionally difficult to tell who was who among the three soldiers we follow - dressed the same, with the same hair color and skin tone, I just had to accept them most of the time. A couple of other things I found odd. First is that it seems like only three British planes were dispatched, and while the air cover was not nearly what the soldiers would have liked, this is quite simplified. Second is that the Rylance boat was about to be conscripted when he sets sail on his own; cool. But when the boats start arriving at Dunkirk, there seem to be none of them conscripted by the Navy; all of them are captained and crewed by regular folks. That was odd to me. Good stuff overall, all of that said.